Interesting to hear BK's approach in the coaching session.
When I played those auditions with director David Galligan who BK had worked with, he approached every person's audition that way, with almost total focus on how they communicated the lyrics. After they sang once, he'd have them talk about it and through it and then he'd tell me "no rhythm, no nothing, just some harmony, and keep it down", and he'd have them speak and then sing the lyrics with a couple of different kinds of emphasis. I'd say just about every person responded to that and significantly improved their audition just in that process.
It was a first for me, the director spending that much time doing actual coaching at the audition. The only person who didn't get that treatment was that one hapless individual who came in at the end, having no clue about anything.
And he did no readings. Not a word. Just the singing audition, and then the choreographer took them through some things, spending more time with them than one usually gets.
